Determining the location of a blood vessel is a common medical procedure. Historically however, the systems and methods that medical practitioners use for locating blood vessels have been imprecise, cumbersome, and/or expensive.
For example, one common conventional method for locating a blood vessel involves restricting blood flow to a patient's arm and visually identifying a blood vessel. While this conventional method is widely used and inexpensive, it suffers from several problems. For instance, even in ideal conditions, determining the precise location of a blood vessel using this method may be difficult. Also, the conventional method is invasive, causing a patient discomfort as their arm is being restricted. The procedure may be further complicated with patients who are experiencing trauma, or with patients who have darker or thicker skin.
Rather than using a conventional manual method, a medical practitioner may use a device for locating a blood vessel. However, conventional devices that attempt to locate blood vessels may suffer from inaccuracy, invasiveness, high cost, and relative impracticality. And some devices may only work on certain patients.
Thus a need exists for an accurate, convenient, and inexpensive device for locating blood vessels.